Poverty is the main reason why millions of children still live in orphanages.

It is often the only way these children can get an education and are sent to live away from their families.

Decades of research show that growing up in a residential care institution is harmful for a child's development and well-being. This has led to a global effort to move away from this model of care as a response to poverty.

But well-meaning support for orphanages - through donations, volunteering, tourist trips and faith-based mission work – is weakening this effort and perpetuating the cycle of family separation.

The solution is to redirect support away from orphanages towards programs that help to strengthen communities and keep families together.Find out more.

No child should be needlessly separated from their family.

An estimated 80% of children living in orphanages are not orphans, and have at least one living parent.

ReThink Orphanages is a global, cross-sector coalition working to prevent family separation and unnecessary child institutionalization by shifting the way countries in the global north engage with overseas aid and development.